Israeli Arts, Culture & Literature:
Photography

Today, photography is characterized by intimacy, restraint
and a preoccupation with the self, both a reaction to and an outgrowth
of the romantic, informational style which dominated its early stages
of development. In the mid-19th century, local photography was based
largely on providing photographic services, concentrating on the depiction
of holy places (mainly Christian) to sell as souvenirs to pilgrims and
tourists.

From 1880 onwards, photographers began to document
the development of the Jewish community in Palestine (Land of Israel),
portraying the pioneers working the soil and building cities and towns,
through a heroic lens, oriented to a modern, secular ideology and the
requirements of clients who used their pictures to further particular
causes, such as the Jewish National Fund.

The country's development in its early years was faithfully
recorded by a number of talented photojournalists, some still active
today, including Tim Gidal, David Rubinger, Werner Braun, Boris Carmi,
Zev Radovan, David Harris and Micha Bar Am. Crossing the invisible boundary
between 'photography as documentation' and 'art photography' are, among
others, Aliza Auerbach who concentrates on portraiture; Neil Folberg,
Doron Horwitz and Shai Ginott who focus on nature; David Darom, an expert
underwater photographer; and Dubi Tal and Mony Haramati, a team specializing
in aerial photography. In recent years, as photography as a pure artistic
medium has become a legitimate art form, a number of creative photographers
have emerged, with the active support of galleries, museums, curators
and collectors. Today's art photography is highly personal, probing
questions of life and death, art and illusion, in styles ranging from
the formalistic and minimalistic to the pictorial and intellectual-conceptual.

Several important venues for displaying photographic
work have come into being, foremost among them being the photography
biennale at Mishkan Le'Omanut in Kibbutz Ein Harod and the new Museum
of Photography at Tel Hai in the northern Galilee.